Trump lashes out at Supreme Court justices — and plows ahead with a new round of tariffs

• President Donald Trump blasted the Supreme Court for striking down most of his tariffs.
• On Friday, justices handed down a 6-3 decision that ruled that Trump overstepped his power.
• The ruling was a major rebuke of Trump's trade policy.

President Donald Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court after justices dealt a sweeping rebuke of his trade policy.

In some of his harshest criticisms ever of the nation's highest court, Trump said some justices should be "absolutely ashamed" for siding against him. Without evidence, Trump accused justices of being "swayed by foreign interests." He added that the majority opinion was "almost like not written by smart people."

"Others think they're being politically correct, which has happened before far too often with members of this court," he said. "They are just being fools and lapdogs for the RINOS and radical left Democrats."

Trump said that it was fair to question the loyalty of "our people," a likely reference to his two appointees, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch, who sided against the administration's view.

Trump said that due to the "deeply disappointing" decision, "alternatives" will be used to preserve his trade agenda. Later, he said he would use a separate authority to impose a 10% global tariff on top of any existing tariffs.

"The Supreme Court did not overrule tariffs. They merely overruled a particular use of IEPPA tariffs," Trump said, citing the law in question in the court's ruling.

Asked if the government will now have to issue refunds, Trump again criticized the court for not addressing the issue.

"I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years," he said.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Trump did not have the power under a 1970s law to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs as he did in April 2025 during "Liberation Day." The ruling does not invalidate all of Trump's tariffs, as other tariffs were imposed under different authorities. It does mean that Trump is significantly more limited in imposing broad, general tariffs against countries, one of his preferred methods in trade negotiations.

"The President must 'point to clear congressional authorization' to justify his extraordinary assertion to justify his extraordinary assertion of the power to impose tariffs," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "He cannot."

Trump, who has repeatedly proclaimed himself to be "Tariff Man," has also repeatedly suggested that he would use revenue from tariffs to pay for a range of things, from refund checks to paying down the national debt to helping fund childcare.

In total, Treasury Department data showed that the US has collected more than $133 billion in tariffs as of December.

The White House and top Trump administration officials have repeatedly suggested that if the court struck down most of Trump's tariffs that it would be a mess to sort out any potential refund process.

"It won't be a problem if we have to do it, but I can tell you that if it happens - which I don't think it's going to - it's just a corporate boondoggle," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently told Reuters. "Costco, who's suing the US government, are they going to give the money back to their clients?"

Roberts' opinion did not explicitly address a potential refund process, a point that Justice Brett Kavanaugh seized on in his 63-page dissent.

"The Court says nothing today about whether, and if so how, the Government should go about returning the billions of dollars that it has collected from importers," Kavanaugh wrote. "But that process is likely to be a 'mess,' as was acknowledged at oral argument."

In addition to criticizing the justices in the majority, Trump offered effusive praise for Kavanaugh, who wrote a 63-page dissenting opinion.

"I'm so proud of him," Trump said, suggesting Kavanaugh's stock has "gone way up."

This is unlikely to be Trump's last word on the soon-to-be historic ruling. On Tuesday, he is set to deliver his annual State of the Union address.

Historically, the justices occupy front-row seats on the House floor.